INTERESTING STUFF: 2 July 2011

Interesting Stuff is a weekly listing of short takes and links to web items that have caught my attention; some related to aging and some not, some useful and others just for fun.

You are all encouraged to submit items for inclusion. Just click “Contact” in the upper left corner of any Time Goes By page to send them. I’m sorry that I probably won’t have time to acknowledge receipt and there is no guarantee of publication. But when I do include them, you will be credited and I will link to your blog if you have one.

MORE FORD TEST DRIVINGLast Monday, I showed you the video of my test drive of park assist at Ford Motor Company in Michigan.

I tried only the tamest hands-on opportunities available to conference attendees and now Mike Wood of Ford has put together a montage of the more exciting ones with a little more, too, of yours truly.

AMAZING SPIDER TREE Due to unprecedented and prolonged flooding in parts of Pakistan, spiders have moved from ground level to the trees by the gazillions and stayed there.

“According to University of Akron biologist Todd Blackledge, who studies web-weaving spiders, some spin new webs each day. After weeks, the dense layers of silk, seen here in Sindh province, covered the trees.”

NEW IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER IN MEDICINE AS ELSEWHERE Jan Adams of Happening Here sent this New York Times story about all-metal hip replacement joints that are not only failing, but distributing metal debris throughout blood and organs.

One reason for the problem is that some newer metal hips are not human-tested and rushed to market, as is true for other devices and some drugs:

”Several heavily promoted artificial spinal disks, claimed by their makers to be major innovations, proved no better than previous ones. After the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia was linked to heart attacks, a federal study concluded that older drugs were safer and worked better for most patients.

“And a new heart device component from Medtronic started fracturing after it was implanted in more than 200,000 patients; at least 12 people died in connection with that product.”

With medical issues, we need to listen to our doctors, but we must also be our own advocates. Read more here.

BERNIE SANDERS’ PLEA TO THE PRESIDENT No one in Washington, D.C. is as much on the side of we the people as Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Last week, he spoke on the floor of the Senate urging President Obama not to cave (again) to the stupefying demands of Republicans, corporations and the wealthy to balance the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. Here is part of his speech:

Sanders summed up the situation in a letter to the president that had been signed by more than 16,000 people by the time he completed his speech. You too can do that here.

There are Congress members who vote with Sanders, but I can’t think of any other representative or senator who speaks out at all, let alone with the passion and commitment of Bernie. Can you?

THE ENORMITY OF THE INTERNET The size of the internet is almost unfathomable. Every 60 seconds, more than 13,000 hours of music are streamed on Pandora, 98,000 tweets are posted and 12,000 new ads are uploaded to craigslist. Here are some more factoids from Shanghai Web Designers.

CAT MOTHERS A SQUIRREL I don’t know why, but I’m a sucker for interspecies friendship. I found this story at the financial/political blog, Naked Capitalism and I’m just going to repeat that post in its entirety:

The cat mother, Tito. The kitten, Paco. And the baby squirrel, Firulais. They became family last year, when Rubén Darío Gaviria, who lives in Colombia, found the squirrel under a tree, limping and unable to climb up. The squirrel instinctively cuddled with him, hiding from the cold weather, at 6AM.

As Rubén got home, he introduced the little squirrel to mom Tito, who was not so pleased to see the newcomer. A quick reprimand of “Bad Tito! He’s family now,” followed.

The mom got the message and immediately welcomed the squirrel into her bed with Paco, the baby kitten. The squirrel, then named Firulais, bonded with his new mother when she started nursing him back to health.

The unusual family plays together daily. At night, Firulais ventures into the woods, where he dug a hole. He’s free to go whenever he wants, says Rubén, but he doesn’t seem to be very interested in giving up the comforts of his new home. He always comes back to sleep all curled up with Tito and Paco.

TOO MANY PRESCRIPTION DRUGS Geriatric specialists have long warned that taking too many drugs can lead to mental confusion and decline in elders. As Dr. Robert Butler reported in his book, The Longevity Revolution,

”Individuals receiving many medications (polypharmacy), especially if older, may experience fatigue, intellectual confusion, memory loss, impaired sexuality, or urinary incontinence…Drugs should, when possible, be used sparingly and at low dosage.”

Additionally, new drugs are rarely tested on old people so that physicians do not know how recommended dosages affect elders.

Sky McCain, who blogs at Earthen Spirituality, emailed this BBC report about a new study from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that discusses these issues. You can read it here.

SEAGULL STEALS GOLF BALL I know – seagulls are just rats with wings, but I have always liked the symmetry of their shape especially when they are soaring on shifting winds. They are also inveterate thieves and that’s funny to watch.

HOW RICH ARE THE RICH? LET ME SHOW YOU Next time you hear one of those Republicans telling you the wealthy need more tax cuts or that the budget cannot be balanced without trashing Social Security and Medicare, pull out these charts.

This shows the capital income earned by the top one percent (gray) and the bottom 80 percent (red) between 1979 and 2003.

These two charts speak for themselves:

You will find more facts and charts about the distribution of wealth in the U.S. at Business Insider.

THE LATEST VIRAL CAT VIDEO When I called for some help with Interesting Stuff items a couple of weeks ago, nearly a dozen of you sent in the latest viral cat video – The Barking Cat. It has had so many millions of views at YouTube that I expect most of you have seen it. Or, maybe not.